Page 43 of Villainous
He stalks toward me, signing so fast I can’t keep up with what he’s saying.
“Sorry, man. I wanted to crash here because I didn’t want to go home.”
He nods and signs,“Do you need to talk?”
I can say yeah, but I shake my head.“Are you guys a couple now?”
He smiles, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile this big.“Yeah. I’m glad I listened to your advice on her. She doesn’t cringe when she looks at me, and I like her a lot.”
I pat him on the back. “Good.”
He signs,“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
I exhale.“I didn’t want to deal with Maya tonight, so I decided to crash here. But I can see you’re busy.”
He shakes his head and places both hands on my shoulders. “Stay.” He signs,“I’ll tell Ginevra you are staying. And we can get breakfast together before I go have a meeting with the soldiers.”
Piero is in control of a crew of my soldiers, and he helps me run a few of my brothels and the escort service. I’m happy he found someone because he waited for this moment for so long. My uncle Agostino and Chiara weren’t so nice to him after his accident that made him go deaf. They threw him away like used shoes and saw no use for him. They stopped coming around, so now he spends time with me and his little sister during the holidays.
I nod and turn on my heel, then head to the guest room and shut the door before I lie on the bed and drift off to sleep.
Villainous
The next morning, I’m in bed, staring at the white ceiling fan for several minutes. Finally, I drag myself out of bed and throw on a suit that I keep in the guest room, and then I brush my teeth. I leave a few extra things at Piero’s penthouse because I like to crash here when I don’t want to drive all the way to the Hamptons.
Once I’m in the kitchen, Ginevra leans against the island. When her eyes lift to mine, she blushes and bows her head slightly.
“Mr. Vitali. I was going to go to work now.” Fear bubbles in her tone, and her voice is squeaky like a mouse.
Ginevra is one of the very few prostitutes I actually respect because she keeps everything professional. When she came to me a few years ago, she was this timid, shy girl who wanted to pay for her father’s medical bills because he had a heart problem. Now that he’s passed away, she continues to work because she loves keeping the money and lifestyle. She’s one of my top-requested workers.
“Since you’re dating one of my cousins and close friends, you don’t have to call me Mr. Vitali when you’re not at work.”
Piero is going to end up marrying this chick. I can tell she’s into him, and she’s never given any of the other men who work at the brothel the time of day. Piero always wanted to have a famiglia, and I think that gene has skipped me because I don’t see the appeal. You have to think about your kids’ well-being and needs, and I’ve grown too selfish to want to take care of and be responsible for someone else.
She sits the mug on the granite counter. “What should I call you?”
I roam to the coffee machine and grab a black mug sitting next to it, then pour the scorching liquid into it. “Villainous.”
“Villainous,” she repeats like it’s foreign on her tongue, and her cheeks turn pink again.
“Is he still asleep?”
“He is.”
I would threaten her to not break his heart, but Ginevra is a sweet woman, and I’ve never known for her to raise her voice. If any of the clients got too handsy, she would never tell them to stop, but she would report back to Piero or Manos about it, and then I would have to beat their asses before throwing them out.
Piero strolls in with bed hair, still in his dark boxers. Ginevra’s eyes veer down to his crotch, and her eyes widen. A smile forms at the corner of her mouth, and her face turns the color of a stop sign.
Piero kisses her forehead before he turns to me and signs,“I need to talk to you.”
He tugs on my right arm, leading me to the living room, and my gaze trails to the vertical window. The sun hangs high in the crystal-clear sky, and the skyline looks amazing from this angle.
We sit on the leather couch, and Piero twists toward me as his legs brush against mine.
I sign,“What is it?”
He exhales.“Don’t renew Ginevra’s contract in the next couple of months.”
